The printable gun has arrived

posted at 8:31 am on May 4, 2013 by Jazz Shaw

Just to establish a baseline of what we’re talking about here, any of you who regularly watch shows like How it’s Made, Modern Marvels or any of the other science and technology offerings on cable probably already know about 3-D printing. (One of the featured manufacturers of these machines has a nice video tutorial on it.) Basically, a 3-D model is designed and the “printer” lays down one layer after another of material until the model is produced. And some of these machines are already getting down to the affordable range.

So what would you do if you got one? Well, if you’re Cody Wilson, you’d print a gun of course. Forbes has the exclusive.

Eight months ago, Cody Wilson set out to create the world’s first entirely 3D-printable handgun.

Now he has.

Early next week, Wilson, a 25-year University of Texas law student and founder of the non-profit group Defense Distributed, plans to release the 3D-printable CAD files for a gun he calls “the Liberator,” pictured in its initial form above. He’s agreed to let me document the process of the gun’s creation, so long as I don’t publish details of its mechanics or its testing until it’s been proven to work reliably and the file has been uploaded to Defense Distributed’s online collection of printable gun blueprints at Defcad.org.

Here’s a picture of the piece, provided by Forbes.

Now, if you’re the same kind of sensitive, caring person as me, you’re probably sitting there thinking the same thing I was. “That is totally awesome. I have got to get me one of these.” But this does bring up some dicey subjects. Cody Wilson has been working on this project since last summer – obviously just to make a point that I’m not all that concerned about – and he seems to have pretty much pulled it off in a relatively short period. (Forbes has a good summary of the whole back story at the link.) But I get the impression he was never expecting a fool proof product on the first go.

“We want to show this principle: That a handgun is printable,” says Wilson, a 24-year-old second-year law student at the University of Texas. “You don’t need to be able to put 200 rounds through it…It only has to fire once. But even if the design is a little unworkable, it doesn’t matter, as long as it has that guarantee of lethality.”

As far as I’m concerned, 3-D printing technology is absolutely awesome. It may be the first step on the road to replicators. The number of up-sides to this are probably too numerous to count, since early stage manufacturing for some small businesses who are just starting out might be a lot more affordable. But we have to deal with the fact that the technology is now – or very shortly will be – cranking out guns. Dr. Joyner seems to agree.

… [O]nce this technology becomes more affordable and widespread—and that’s going to happen very, very soon—it’s going to make a lot of existing laws obsolete.

Indeed, there are already attempts to regulate the technology:

New York congressman Steve Israel has responded to Defense Distributed’s work by introducing a bill that would renew the Undetectable Firearms Act with new provisions aimed specifically at 3D printed components. In January, personal 3D printing firm Makerbot removed all gun components from Thingiverse, its popular site for hosting users’ printable designs.

All of that opposition has only made Wilson more eager to prove the possibility of a 3D printed firearm. “Everyone talks about the 3D printing revolution. Well, what did you think would happen when everyone has the means of production?” Wilson asked when we spoke earlier in the week. “I’m interested to see what the potential for this tool really is. Can it print a gun?”

The very nature of the technology would seem to make it next to impossible to regulate.

As technology expands in any area of endeavor, things change. As prices drop and availability increases, the idea of some single set of well regulated manufacturers acting as gatekeepers of tools becomes more and more problematic. And now that seems to be happening in the field of manufacturing complex mechanisms. Yet again, people will be asking us… what do we do about this? I have no idea. But that genie is out of the bottle now, folks.

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Also, a few folks have opined the any gun that could be manufactured by a printer would be “untraceable”. Even paper printers have been traceable for years. Everything leaves a footprint, intended or not.

The real value of 3d printing in gun manufacturing would be making the masters. Or, if it could print in the mold medium for cast pieces, you’d really have something. My Beretta and Taurus both have composite pieces, but the barrel and many other working have to be made out of metal if you want any longevity out of the piece.

No video of it being fired? I suspect the guy is having a hard time finding someone stupid enough to try it.

whatcat on May 4, 2013 at 10:42 AM

There’s video of him firing an AR15 built using a printed receiver. The receiver broke after 6 shots, IIRC. Nobody’s dumb enough to fire something like this (or any gun) for the first time. You put it in a clamp and pull the trigger with a string. I’m sure video will be forthcoming, if it fires. If not, he’ll continue the prototyping process.

I just went to a 3D printer face off… Two machine types with different printing techs and plastic printing materials. While I don’t assume to know what tricks the gun printer used to get the gun to work and survive the shot… it may be a simple matter to add some metal or ceramic chamber liners, and a real firing pin… while the printing is in progress.

The criminals will absolutely be using this tech one day. For about $20,000 a decent base machine can be had… so once they ban guns, and confiscate all the legally own guns, and then slowly by attrition the illegal guns disappear… this will be the gun source of choice for the BAD GUYS. Or maybe they’ll just do bombs…

I don’t know, wouldn’t you be better off just downloading the blueprints to a sten gun and building that in a shop? (I mean didn’t those things get built in occupied countries in WW2?)

Dave_d on May 4, 2013 at 9:48 AM

The receiver of a Sten, is literally a tube with some holes cut into it, it can be made with a drill, dremel, and a glue-on pattern if necessary. The rest of the parts were still widely available a few years ago, I dunno about now.

If you’ve got a machine shop handy and know what you’re doing, you could build the rest, minus maybe rifling the barrel. If you’ve got that kind of capability, well, then you’ve got gunsmithing tools.

I don’t know the state of the art for this, but the strength of the barrel and chamber is what would be of key importance. It’s not enough that it looks right and has the right pieces, but it has to withstand the force of the firing. Otherwise, the firer would be in more danger than the target.

Kevin K. on May 4, 2013 at 10:31 AM

It depends on the ammunition. Going back to the examples I cited, the “Paltik” 12-gauge weapons mostly had barrels consisting of a length of Jeep (TM) steering-wheel shaft tubing; it’s a nominal .68″ ID, and has ample wall thickness to handle the relatively low pressures of shotgun rounds.

Pistol rounds other than Magnum types can be safely used in heavy-wall seamless tubing of the correct size.

And as for 3D printing, modern plastic composite formulas can be used that have much higher tensile strength vs pressure (kg/cmE2) than the majority of even ordnance-type alloys. You often find them used in the aerospace industry today for just that reason; lighter and stronger than metals.

You can buy a polymer lower from New Frontier Armory for $60 and there’s have been stress tested and used for rifle builds for a couple of years now A few other places are comparable in price.

Forged, stripped lower are also available for less if you know where to look. AR15.com is a good place to strt looking if you’re in the market.

For $150, it’s too high without any real-world testing and use available. The novelty of is also doesn’t warrant the price. If they can bring the price down and it gets some real world ‘shakedown’ they could be a market player.

A number of months ago I saw a news report about a company that was exploiting a loophole in gun registration and background checks if you build a gun yourself and never intend on selling it.
Soooo. you go to this company that owns a bunch of CNC milling machine. Pay them money, and they take you into the machine room and hand you a billit of steel. They instruct you to place it in the CNC machine and press the red button on the instrument panel.
bzzzz whiirrrrrr breeeee. Out comes your milled gun component. You buy the springs and seer components and then assemble it yourself. No government involvement at all. You didn’t buy a gun. You bought a block of steel and you formed it into the firearm of your choice, yourself.

kurtzz3 on May 4, 2013 at 10:20 AM

I’ve got an 80% AR lower. No serial number or background check. Sent to me in the mail no questions asked. Haven’t had a chance to get it machined yet though.

Gotcha, wasn’t aware polymer lowers were that cheap. From my understanding their goal isn’t really to make a profit since they’re giving away the design on their defcad.org site. They’re just trying to raise what they can to dump back into the project. It’s sparked my curiosity enough though that I may order one in the future. You know, for the cause. ;)

A number of months ago I saw a news report about a company that was exploiting a loophole in gun registration and background checks if you build a gun yourself and never intend on selling it.

kurtzz3 on May 4, 2013 at 10:20 AM

It’s not a loophole. A piece of metal is just a piece of metal and you are certainly allowed to build your own gun for your own use. Also, you can sell it, eventually, but you just cannot build it with the intent to sell since that would make you a manufacturer and you would then need to apply for all sorts of licenses and permits and such.

If they’re going to start confiscating your guns because you got a prescription for valium at some point in your life, then making your own or buying them illegally will be the only way to go in the future.

Not quite printable but years ago I watched a TV show(Bonanza I think) where the stars were being held captive in a barn. They found some bullets in the barn and built slap guns out of a board and a nail. I have remembered that show all these years and have always known that if needed I could build a shooter if needed.

The preverbal Genie is out of his bottle, and is he pissed! I remember news coverage of the war in Kosovo, they showed a man making mortars in his small 3rd world shed. All he had a computer with Pro-e and a CNC machine. And that was in 1998! The problem with 3D printing is that is uses plastic resin which cannot handle the forces/pressures. Until they come out with a liquid metal that maybe could be somehow cured into a solid metal part, the 3D printer will be limited.
That said, there is another option to my surprise few have talked about. And all the parts are available now…Tesla Coil Gun. While admittedly, this is a low power version, it will take next to nothing to create a high power version able to reach out and touch someone.http://youtu.be/QmpHpQhN9RE

I don’t think you guys get it. If you can create a one shot polymer gun, then you can create a one shot polymer shotgun. Either one is plenty for the poor person in a high crime area who can’t afford $200 for a crappy pistol. Theoretically, if he can print one up at the library for $14, you’ve got a revolution in self protection and crime prevention.

3d Printing will soon become one of the biggest technological revolutions since Gutenberg’s Press and movable type…

…and perhaps even bigger than that.

All of you focusing on the gun aspect are missing the point. It’s not about the gun. It’s not even about the printer that made it.

It’s about having the ability to make what you want (and more importantly what you need) whenever you have the materials, the know how, and a printer that can work said materials. This is the end result of the industrial revolution: the power of the machine now universally available and usable by all.

In the words of Cody Wilson himself:

“Can 3d printing be subversive? If it can, it will be because it allows us to make the important things… not trinkets… not lawn gnomes… but the things that the institutions and industries have an interest in keeping from us–things like access, medical devices, drugs, goods, guns.”

–Cody Wilson

This is what it really means: One less obstacle, one less way that our freedoms can be trampled upon.

Sme companies have addressed the issue by strengthening their formula. But for normal use, their strength is comparable to a forged receiver.

Youwouldn’t be able to buttstroke someone, but for normal shooting they should be fine. Or if you’re apwanting to build a .22lr platform for your kids or something.

catmman on May 4, 2013 at 1:02 PM

It’s a mistake to copy an AL part. The design has to incorporate the strengths of the polymer. These guys need to spend a little time looking at modern automotive parts. Currently your gas, brake, and clutch pedals are plastic. The designs include metal bushings at the stress points to absorb the forces and distribute them over a wider area.

I’ve been working with plastic since the eighties and I can make anything, but you have to make it for the polymer.

3.5%
Do you really believe if it is 3.5% I would think that was low.It’s a thousand percentage higher then here.

It’s math from your numbers. Do you want to try them again?

BTW, here in the US we would say “ten times higher”. We may also note that you established the US has “probably about 1 gun per person in the country.”

Using your numbers the US firearm-crime rate is only ten times higher than the UK with, per you, near-universal and an infinitely higher percentage of exposure to guns.

Good point. That’s extremely low now that we put it in perspective. Thanks.

Only in America would that be deemed’ low’ You kept telling me less then 1% is low. Also saying ,did i think the U.S could follow the U.K to reach the same percentage of 0.3
What do you think of 0.3% here? What do you put it down too?

Except you typed the accusatory

How can you say firearms are only used in 3% of all overall crime in the U.S?

mags on May 6, 2013 at 8:32 PM

Implying 3% is low.

I will give you my mixed up comment,i only have 7 fingers and i have a child strapped to my back.
You must of recognised it was wrong to comment on it.

mags on May 7, 2013 at 12:52 PM

What are you talking about? The reversed US/UK? It was comical, that’s all. I don’t use typos as gotchas. We all make mistakes.